Refrigerating apparatus



Patented Apr. '4, 1944 aarmoam'rmo APPARATUS Martin J. Goulooze, GrandRapids, Mich, assignor to Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich., acorporation of Maryland Application October 11, 1941, Serial No. 414,558

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and moreparticularly to refrigerator cabinet construction.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improvedarrangement for securing a breaker strip to the metal walls of arefrigerator cabinet.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a breaker stripfor joining the inner and outer metal walls of a refrigerator cabinetformed of relatively thin metal and attached by use of resilientmembers.

It is still another object of the present invention to form theresilient member so as to reinforce the breaker strip against flexureand hold the edges of the breaker strip in snug engagement with themetal walls of the cabinet.

The invention itself, however both as to its organization, and itsoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbest be understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, inwhich;

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet embodying features ofmy invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig.2; and

Fig. el is a perspective view of a clip used in the present invention.

Shown in the drawing is a refrigerator cabinet 29 having a food storagecompartment 22. A door 25 is mounted to the cabinet and is provided witha gasket 26 for closing and sealing the opening to the food storagecompartment to prevent warm air entering the compartment. Thecompartment is refrigerated by a suitable refrigerating apparatus (notshown).

The cabinet 20 is constructed with an outer metal shell or casing 30 andan inner metal shell or liner 32. The walls of the casing 30 and liner32 are in spaced apart relation between which is interposed suitableheat insulation material 34. The liner 32 forms the walls of the foodstorage compartment.

The outer shell or casing 30 is formed to provide the top and side wallsof the cabinet, and also is provided with a portion 36 which is bentaround the front of the cabinet to provide the front wall thereof. Theportion 38 is provided with a continuation 31 bent back upon the portion36 to reinforce thefront wall forming it of double thickness. The metalalso continues with portions 39 and 40, with the portion 39 being bentin engagement with the sides of the shell or casing 30 to add additionalreinforcement for the front wall. The portion 40 extends inwardly intothe cabinet and cooperates with the portion 36 to form a pocket 42.

The liner 32 is of box-like construction, open at the front, and isprovided with a front wall portion 45 having its marginal edge bent toform a flange 41 extending rearwardly into the cabinet. The flange 41 isspaced from the sides of the liner.

Extending between the outer casing 30 and the inner liner 32 is abreaker strip 50 joining the front wall portions 36 and 45. The breakerstrip is formed of relatively thin metal not greater than .010 inchthick, and preferably formed from stainless steel or other like materialhaving relatively low heat conductivity. The breaker strip is preferablyformed arcuate extending in a convex curve from within the pocket 42 tofront wall 5 and is reinforced by pad 52 of heat insulation material.cemented to the back or corn cave side of the breaker strip.

The breaker strip is attached by clip members 55 which are first amxedto the breaker strip. The clip members are set in spaced relation alongthe back of the breaker strip, and extend laterally thereacross. Theclip members are each formed of relatively thin resilient metal, such asspring steel or the like, and formed of strip 5'5 extending across thebreaker strip having ends and 6t formed by the reversely bent endportions 62 and 53 respectively. The end 60 is adapted to engage themarginal edge portion 65 of the breaker strip, and the opposed end M isreceivable in the pocket 6i formed in the breaker strip by bending themarginal edge 69. The end portion 82 continues from the end 60 in asemi-circular loop to an upwardly extended portion H whose end is bentto form hook 12 for engagement over the edge of the flange 41. Theopposite end portion 63 extends reversely to strip 51 formed to extendangularly upwardly to point 15, then angularly downwardly to terminatein a semi-circular loop 1 adapted to engage around the edge of the wallportion 3| of the outer shell.

The breaker strip with the clip members atfixed at spaced intervals isreadily attached to the cabinet by flrst inserting one edge into pocket42 until the hook 16 engages the edge of the wall 40, then moving theopposite edge towards wall 45 for locking the hook 12 over end of theflange 47. Thebreaker strip may be easily removed by inserting a toolbetween wall 45 and edge of the breaker strip for pressing against theloop 10 until the hook I! is disengaged from the end of flange 41.

In the present arrangement of the clip memher the breaker strip is insnug engagement against the edge of front wall a, and against th wall45. The end portion 68 of the clip is tensioned against the wall portionIll so as to move the end 60 towards the opposite wall of the pocket ii,the tendency of the portion 83 being to spread apart, or move away fromthe section 51. The opposite end portion 82 is bent so that the plane ofportion ll intersecting with the section 51 forms an angle less than theangle formed by the flange H with wall 46 so that the flush engagementof portion ll against flange 41 tends to bend the end 60 towards thewall 45 holding the edge of the breaker strip in tight engagementthereto.

The clip is attached to the spaced apart walls so as to radius thesection 51 outwardly against the back of the breaker strip. forreinforcement of the breaker strip against flexure, and serves tomaintain the face of the breaker strip in a smooth arc. It will beobvious that the section 51 need not contact the breaker strip toprovide an effective securement of the breaker strip where a differentcontour is desired for the breaker strip. The engagement of the ends 60and SI in the pockets formed along the longitudinal edges of the breakerstrip is effective in holding the edges towards the adjacent walls aswell as prevent any lateral shifting or moving of the breaker strip.

While I have shown and described the preferred form of my invention, 1"do not wish to limit myself to the precise detail as shown anddescribed, but wish to avail myself of such variations and modificationsas may come within the scope of the appended claims;

I claim:

1. A refrigerator cabinet construction compi-is-- ing an inner casinghaving a flange and an outer casing having a flange, said casings beingarranged in spaced apart relationship, a resilient member bridging thespace between said flanges with one end thereof clampingly engaging oneof said flanges and the opposite end thereof clampingly engaging theother flange, a breaker strip extending between said casings with onesilient member to lock said breaker strip to said assumes side thereofengaging one side of "said resilient member and a relatively thincovering member extending across the front of said breaker strip withthe terminating edges of said covering mem-* 'ber extending beyond theedges of said breaker strip and bent rearwardly and extending over theouter end portions of said resilient member to lock said breaker stripto said resilient member.

2. A refrigerator cabinet construction comprising an inner casing havinga flange and an outer casing having a flange, said casings beingarranged in spaced apart relationship, a resilient member bridging thespace between said flanges and provided with resilient clamping means atthe ends thereof, said resilient clamping means engaging the flanges oithe inner and outer casings and causing the resilient member to beflexed into engagement with said casings, a breaker strip extendingbetween said casings with one side thereof engaging one side of saidresilient member and a relatively thin metal covering member extendingacross the front of said breaker strip with the terminating edges ofsaid covering.member extending beyond the edges of said breaker stripand bent rearwardly and extending over the outer end portions of saidresilient member to lock-said breaker strip to said resilient member.

3. A refrigerator cabinet construction comprising an inner casing havinga flange and an outer casing having a flange, said casings beingarranged in spaced-apart relationship, a resilient member bridging thespace between said flanges and provided with resilient clamping means atthe ends thereof the normal distance between the clamping means beinggreater than the distance between the flanges between the'edges of theflanges of the casing, said resilient clamping means engaging theflanges oi the inner and outer casings and causing the resilient memberto be flexed into engagement with said casings, a breaker stripextending between said casings with one side thereof engaging one sideof said resilient member and a relatively thin metal covering memberextending across the front of said breaker strip with the terminatingedges of said covering member extending beyond the edges of said breakerstrip and bent rearwardly and extending over the outer end portions ofsaid reresilient member.

MARTIN J. GOULOOZE.

